Abandoned Italian villages potential tourist attractions?

Abandoned
villages in Italy are potential tourist attractions. However, the Italian
government is not investing to relaunch them. It was estimated that in Italy
there are about 200 such dying communities with a majority of houses empty but
still very liveable.

In recent
years, we’ve often read news about Italy selling off its abandoned real estate
for free or at a symbolic price, such as 1 euro. Sardinia has been giving away
run-down houses in the countryside at 1 euro, upon an investment of at least
£20,000 on the properties.

Last year, we
read on “Corriere della sera” that Italy was ready to put up for auction part
of its historical heritage.

Ghost towns
haven’t only ben sold out. Some of them have been revitalised by migrants.
Riace, on the southern Italian coast had dwindled down to less than 100 people.
The city mayor secured a government grant, to offer the houses and the tools
for maintenance and repairs to the refugees, who had been awarded political
asylum. The mayor also won a grant to teach vital skills that fit with the
historic enterprises of the town, including artisans in the ceramic sector,
tailor shops and bakeries. The refugees were all trained for jobs at shops that
already existed. Now the town has more than 450 new refugee residents from 20
different nations running its various businesses, which are all booming because
everyone is working.

The trend of
selling off abandoned real estate for free or at a symbolic price started 10
years ago when the mayor of Salemi, Sicily, sold houses destroyed by an
earthquake for one euro each. However, there was a catch: new villa owners had
to invest about £72,000 into those structures, in part to make them
earthquake-proof. The initiative proved to be successful and the area is now
full of refurbished homes rented out for the summer months.

Since then, a
number of dying communities followed suit and last year the government gave
away in an under-40 set bidding old castles it could no longer afford to keep.

Sardinia gave
away run-down houses in the countryside at 1 euro upon an investment of at
least £20,000 on the properties. This has happened in Ollolai, which lies
almost at the centre of Sardinia, a 110-mile drive north of the capital,
Cagliari. In the town there are about 200 unused dwellings - some of them more
than 200 years old. The new owners had to agree to commit about £20,000. The
refurbishment would also need to be completed within the next three years.
Ollolai's location does not make it the most obvious of contexts for a place in
the sun, but a fee of £20,000.87 is a hugely attractive amount for a holiday
home in Italy. Ollolai lies at least 45 miles from the sea, high up in the
mountainous interior, in the rocky area known as Barbagia.

The
initiative was launched to prevent Ollolai from becoming a ghost town. The
empty houses were once owned by shepherds, farmers and other villagers, but
have been abandoned for years.

Last year the
newspaper “Corriere della sera” listed some historical buildings that might be
sold off on sale: the Orsini Castel in Soriano nel Cimino, the island of San
Giacomo in Palude in Venice, the Daziari castles of piazza Sempione in Milan,
villa Mirabellino in Monza, villa Favorita in Ercolano and the officials
pavillion of the barrack of Peschiera del Garda.